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The Importance of Physical Training

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by Luke KincaidYesterday was my most physically active day in a LONG TIME as I have gotten quite lazy lately when it comes to exercising. Laziness was not an option yesterday as we saw the return of in person gatherings for KICS, our children's ministry, and worship was comprised of about 80% jumping around!After much physical activity at KICS our little family met up with some good friends who also have children. And so begun more running around! Moments after these two occasions I realized that I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be. I was strangely energized and feeling good! And then I was reminded of the following Scripture: For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. - 1 Timothy 4:8 CSBI have spent more than one occasion contemplating the second half of this Scripture. The importance of training for godliness has always been the main focal point for me. But while my physical body was benefiting from exercise yesterday - the first half made all the more sense.While the training of the body has limited benefit in comparison to our spiritual growth - it still has many benefits for our health, right here, in the present. Paul is not saying that we can only have one and not the other. It seems as if godliness should be our main priority but not at the expense of our physical bodies and health:Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:19‭-‬20 CSBWhile these two verses from 1 Corinthians are in the context of Paul addressing sexual immorality I think they can also be applied to looking after our bodies in general. It is good for us to be reminded that we are not our own. That we belong to God and this body of ours now belongs to Him as we have been redeemed, paid for, by the blood of Jesus. So we are to glorify God, make much of Him, through how we use our bodies.This has all been the much needed motivation I have required for some time to begin exercising again and eating healthier. In all honesty I haven't been glorifying God through my unhealthy choices and this is something that I am aiming to rectify going forward - so please help keep me accountable!And while exercise can simply become another idol in my life if it is not done with the right motivation - I would like to conclude today's blog with this final quote from Got Questions:"Our goal in exercise should not be to improve the quality of our bodies so that other people will notice and admire us. Rather, the goal of exercising should be…

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Sharing is Caring

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by Calven CelliersLast Sunday as I drove home from Church, I witnessed a small, seemingly insignificant, act of kindness that really touched my heart. One of the local homeless guys at a nearby intersection was given a loaf of bread by a motorist. He immediately opened the packet and I thought he must be really hungry. But then, much to my surprise, he took out a piece of bread, put the remainder of the loaf down on the sidewalk, and walked over to a stretch of lawn on the verge, where he proceeded to crumble the slice of bread for the birds to eat. How kind. I thought of Christ’s words in Matthew 6, “ 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…” (Matthew 6:26NIV) and how our Heavenly Father had used this homeless man to do just that. Out of the little he had, he chose to share it some way. Even though it was only a slice of bread, and it was only for the birds, it spoke to me of generous stewardship.The scene that played out before me at that intersection got me thinking about what we read about the early Church in the book of Acts, and how their example of godly living, that involves sharing, sets a precedent for us as believers living in community to this day. Sharing is not just a preschool principle, and it is not only about money or things, we can share in all sorts of ways, and when we do it honours God.We read in Acts 4 that “32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.” (Acts 4: 32 – 35NIV)This is a beautiful glimpse of what life was like in the early church. This was not a forced distribution of goods, or sharing. It was by no means an attempt to make everyone give up their material things and redistribute them to others. No, it was a change of attitude, saying, ‘Nothing that I possess is mine, for my exclusive use, but everything that I possess is God's, and therefore it is available to anyone who needs it.’ To fully appreciate the generosity of the early church, we need to think about the makeup of that church. Both Jews and Gentiles who had the courage to confess Jesus as Messiah were often ostracized by their family. Christianity was considered to be a dangerous and blasphemous cult. The survival of early believers was often…

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Read more about the article An Afternoon Prayer

An Afternoon Prayer

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Breath"...the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the groundand breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."(Genesis 2:7 NIV)I stop and breatheSlowly in, sighing outEvery breath essential for lifeFrom the moment of my birthBreathe inTo my dying dayBreathe outFrom the dawn of creationBreathe inUntil the end of timeBreath outI praise You Lord for the breath of life you gave meLet me give thanks with every breath I takeAmen

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The Cost of Pride

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by Graham MolAbout a month ago I shared a blog post based on the song Lean On Me. Today I want to start  by looking at a verse from the same song. Here it is:Please swallow your prideIf I have things you need to borrowFor no one can fill those of your needsThat you won’t let show. This verse got me thinking about just how costly pride is - and how much it costs us to hang on to it. Instead of asking for help we try to do it ourselves and despair when we can't.In doing some reading up on the topic I came across an article that says this about the cost of pride:And we need to come to grips with this because pride always costs us way more than we realize.When we sin, the people around us suffer from our pride.And we also suffer the consequences of our own pride by loss of trust, loss of friendship, loss of reputation, ministry opportunities. We spend time out of fellowship with God, perhaps the most tragic consequence of all.(Sarah Beals, Humility and the True Cost of Pride)The Bible warns us about this last consequence of pride, that it impacts our relationship with the Lord.“God opposes the proudbut shows favour to the humble.”Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:6-10)And...All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.(1 Peter 5:5-9)From these two texts we can see that answer to the problem of pride is humility. God's grace is to the humble not the proud. We are also given a picture of what humility means in these two passages of Scripture.Humility is:Submitting yourself to God. By doing this we are declaring that Jesus is worth more than my pride.Resisting the devil. Satan's chief sin was pride, we follow him and his example when we hold onto pride in our own lives.Let us actively pray against pride forming in our hearts and lives. Let us ask the Lord to search our hearts and reveal any offensive way in us (Psalm 139:23-24). May we serve the Lord humbly and trust in His exaltation rather than our own. God BlessGraham

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